Skills
Volunteers provide access to opportunity
Birmingham professional services consultancy WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff has become the largest contributor of volunteers in the region to a project that offers university application support and academic tutoring to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Queen’s Drive-based firm has 14 staff signed
up to be tutors to The Access Project, which matches volunteer professionals with the students for weekly, one-to-one personalised tutorials.
‘Inequality in education affects job opportunities and can become a cycle passed down through generations’
Abbie Jones, senior engineer in development at WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff and co-ordinator of the firm’s involvement via its professional growth network, said: “As a company we have a professional growth network with the objective of seeking opportunities to support education and the community. The Access Project offered the opportunity to make a tangible contribution and a commitment.” The Access Project aims to make education fairer
by helping GCSE and A-level students have an equal opportunity to achieve their academic ambitions.
Sector Focus
Degree education is going to waste
The majority of workers in Birmingham do not use their degree education within their current position - with 63.6 per cent admitting that their job is not related to their degree at all. A new survey of over 1,300 UK
workers, carried out by the CV- Library, also reveals that 36.4 per cent of Birmingham employees would change their degree if they could, while over half (51.4 per cent) said that they do not think degrees are worth the money spent. Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “It’s a massive shame that so many workers in Birmingham have a degree education that has never been realised. “Hopefully this news will
L-R: WSP volunteers Matthew Tozer, De-Shara Quant, Becky Brown, Abbie Jones, Pete Collins, Leticia Rojo- Jimenez, Ariana Vlachou and Richard Leonard
Sophia Ireland, senior West Midlands programme manager at The Access project, said: “Inequality in education affects job opportunities and can become a cycle passed down through generations. This cycle has to be broken. During the 2014/2015 academic year almost 900
students were helped. It’s organisations such as WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff that help contribute to this success story.”
encourage potential students to think carefully about the degree they want to study and how this will help their future careers. “Many industries have a
mandatory degree requirement and often demand niche qualifications. “However, there are also many
sectors that can be entered with alternative qualifications and it’s important that students fully research their options to ensure they are not paying for an education that won’t be used.”
November 2016 CHAMBERLINK 55
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